You know the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes.  It ends this way:

“But he hasn’t got anything on,” a little child said.

“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said its father. And one person whispered to another what the child had said, “He hasn’t anything on. A child says he hasn’t anything on.”

“But he hasn’t got anything on!” the whole town cried out at last.

The Emperor shivered, for he suspected they were right. But he thought, “This procession has got to go on.” So he walked more proudly than ever, as his noblemen held high the train that wasn’t there at all.

Now you will know the rest of the story:

The next day the newspapers published glowing reports of the Emperor’s new clothes. The reporters did not want to acknowledge that they had seen nothing, and the most reknowned reporters and the biggest editors were already in court circles and had already claimed to see the Emperor’s new clothes in the making.  The press did report that a few oafs had shouted that the Emperor had no clothes, revealing to all their own lack of capacity.

The Emperor froze to death that winter. Whereas the swindlers had before claimed that not seeing the clothes revealed only stupidity, they now said that those who did not see the clothes harbored malice.  A rising young courtier suggested that the disbelief of those malicious persons had actually undermined the quality of the cloth for the Emperor himself.  The swindlers agreed that in light of the death of the Emperor, it seemed exceedingly probable.

The child who had shouted that the Emperor had no clothes was expelled from school. His father lost his job.  Though he was an honest and skilled workman, his employer simply could not risk being affiliated with a man who had fathered such a boy.  Dirty layabouts gathered outside the family’s home to harass them.  The police intervened on occasion, but explained that their enforcement priorities unfortunately made it impossible to protect the family entirely.  Eventually the family fled to a neighboring country.  Was it not likely that the family had been agents of that neighboring country all along?  Once it was suggested in the press, the idea was quickly taken up by the people.

Meanwhile, the new Emperor ordered redoubled efforts to root out and punish the stupid and malicious persons who had caused the old Emperor’s death. The ambitious young courtier helmed these efforts, much to his own advantage.  The townspeople, meanwhile, loudly and sincerely proclaimed their belief in the Emperor’s clothes, and vied to prove their loyalty.  Some townspeople bought suits of New Clothes themselves (of a somewhat lesser quality than the Emperor’s, of course).  It was soon noticed that these Newly Clothed persons received some degree of indulgence and even honor from court officials and were well treated by all those who wished to stand well with the court.  The Newly Clothed were never a majority, but did comprise most of the up-and-coming strivers and the persons of good background, and many of their imitators.    When some of them died of exposure, it caused a panic—the extent of the conspiracy of malice went further than had been believed!  More conspirators were hunted down, punished, harassed, and given the fate they richly deserved.  Some of them were even New Clothes wearers themselves, though it was a singular how many of these last were discovered to not be wearing New Clothes at all, but only to be naked, preying on the credulity of the population.  Eventually, however, perhaps because the main body of conspirators had been finally dealt with, it was discovered that death from exposure was a phenomenon that had existed all along and that there was no need to react with any great panic to it.

The Emperor himself, and his immediate Court, were forced to forgo the pleasure of New Clothes. Given the safety risks from malicious persons, as demonstrated by the death of the old Emperor, it was a sacrifice that security demanded they make.

In later years, both the ambitious young courtier and the swindlers were hanged for other offenses.

When a century had gone by, it was widely understood that the New Clothes were metaphorical. Youth donned New Clothes in a touching ceremony where they put off the malice and ignorance of childhood.  They continued to wear old clothes, of course.  They were not extremists.

A few decades later a radical holy man arose who insisted on the literal interpretation of New Clothes. He and his followers killed the Emperor and dissolved the  Empire before being killed in their turn, weakened by exposure.